Free lesson plans and activities
Rock collection activity: an egg carton rock museum for K–2
What it is: a K–2 earth science activity where students collect small rocks, look at them closely, sort them by color, texture and size, and display them…
Mineral hardness test: a 4th grade scratch lab with household tools
What it is: a 4th grade lab where students test mineral samples with a fingernail, a copper coin and a steel washer, then place each mineral on the Mohs…
Map real earthquakes: a plate boundaries activity for grades 6–8
What it is: a middle school activity where students use the U.S. Geological Survey's free Latest Earthquakes map to see where earthquakes happened in the…
What is in soil? A 25-minute soil sifting activity for K–2
What it is: a K–2 activity where small groups sift a cup of garden soil through a colander and a screen, then sort what they find: tiny rocks, sand, bits…
Earthquake STEM challenge: a 4th grade shake table build
What it is: a 4th grade engineering challenge where teams build a small tower from craft sticks and modeling clay, test it on a homemade shake table…
Moon phases model with a ball and lamp, grades 6–8
What it is: a middle school modeling activity where each student holds a ball on a stick at arm's length and turns slowly in a dark room with one lamp as…
Ice cube sunshade challenge: a K–2 sunlight and shade activity
What it is: a K–2 design challenge where pairs build a small shade to keep an ice cube from melting in the sun, then compare it with an ice cube left in…
Earth's water activity: a 5th grade 100-bean model
What it is: a 5th grade activity where each bean stands for 1 percent of all the water on Earth. Students sort 100 beans into salt water and fresh water…
Gravity and orbits model: a 6–8 stretchy fabric activity
What it is: a middle school model where stretchy fabric pulled tight over a large bowl or hoop dips under a heavy ball (the Sun). Marbles rolled around…
Weathering for kids: make sand from rocks in a 2nd grade lab
What it is: a 2nd grade earth science activity where students rub two soft rocks together over dark paper and watch tiny grains fall off. They connect it…
Money detectives: check a $20 bill's security features, grade 4
What it is: a 4th grade activity where students learn the security features printed in U.S. paper money and look for them on a real bill, the way store…
The Sun is a star: a 5th grade flashlight brightness activity
What it is: a 5th grade activity where students compare flashlights at different distances in a darkened hallway or room. A light that is close looks…
Relative dating activity: read clay rock layers like a geologist, 6–8
What it is: a middle school activity where students build four flat layers of colored modeling clay with paper fossils between them, add a fault cut and…
Landforms for 2nd grade: build a clay map with a mountain and valley
What it is: a 2nd grade activity where students shape modeling clay on a plate into a mountain, a hill, a valley, a plain and an island, add a paper river…
Gravity for kids: a 5th grade which way is down globe activity
What it is: a 5th grade activity where students tape small paper people on a globe in different countries and draw which way a dropped ball would fall…
Groundwater activity: build an aquifer in a cup, grades 6–8
What it is: a middle school model where students layer gravel, sand and a clay layer in a clear cup, add water to make an aquifer, and pump from a…
Astronaut activity for kids: a K–2 spacesuit relay game
What it is: a K–2 movement game where teams take turns adding pretend spacesuit parts to one player, and each runner says what the part does before the…
Wind energy for kids: a 4th grade pinwheel turbine test
What it is: a 4th grade activity where pairs build paper pinwheels with different blade sizes, test them in front of a fan, and count how many times each…
Urban heat island activity: a schoolyard surface temperature hunt
What it is: a middle school investigation where students measure the temperature of different surfaces around the schoolyard (asphalt, concrete, grass…
Lightning safety for kids: a 15-minute K–2 storm drill
What it is: a short K–2 routine to practice before storm season. Students learn the National Weather Service rule "When thunder roars, go indoors,"…
Weather activity for 3rd grade: be the forecaster and plan the week
What it is: a 3rd grade role-play where teams read a made-up five-day forecast, decide the best day for a class garden day and which days need indoor…
Geologic time scale activity: a 4.5-meter Earth history string, 6–8
What it is: a middle school activity where a 4.5-meter string stands for Earth's history. At this scale, 1 meter is 1 billion years and 1 millimeter is 1…
Nature table ideas: a weekly earth science tray for K–2
What it is: a printable-free routine where you set one earth object on a tray each week with a hand lens and a question card. Students visit the tray…
Severe weather STEM: a 3rd grade windstorm roof challenge
What it is: a 3rd grade engineering challenge where teams design a paper roof for a small box house and test whether it stays on in a strong breeze from…
Natural resources for kids: a K–2 made from the Earth hunt
What it is: a K–2 scavenger hunt where pairs find classroom objects and trace each one back to the natural resource it came from: a window from sand, a…
Is Pluto a planet? A 5th grade debate using the official rules
What it is: a 5th grade discussion activity where students use the International Astronomical Union's three rules for a planet to test cards for Earth,…
Frozen toy rescue: a 25-minute preschool science activity about melting
What it is: a hands-on science activity where students rescue toys frozen inside blocks of ice. They test what melts ice faster, such as warm water, salt…
Animal tracks matching: a 20-minute kindergarten science activity
What it is: a kindergarten science activity where students look closely at animal footprints, notice toes, claws and size, and match each track to the…
Rubber band guitar: a 1st grade sound and vibration experiment
What it is: a 1st grade science experiment where students stretch rubber bands over an open box, pluck them, and discover that sound is made by…
Erosion in a tray: a 30-minute 2nd grade earth science experiment
What it is: a 2nd grade earth science experiment where students build a sand hill in a tray, pour water on it like rain, and watch the land wear away and…
Magnet strength test: a 35-minute 3rd grade forces experiment
What it is: a 3rd grade forces experiment where students test which magnet is strongest by counting how many paper clips it can hold in a chain, and then…
Simple circuits: a 40-minute 4th grade electricity activity
What it is: a 4th grade electricity activity where students build a simple circuit with a battery, wires and a small bulb, find out why the loop must be…
Separate a mixture: a 40-minute 5th grade matter lab
What it is: a 5th grade matter lab where groups get a mixture of sand, salt, small paper bits and iron filings and must plan how to separate it using…
Color mixing bags: a mess-free 15-minute preschool science activity
What it is: a science activity where students squish two blobs of paint together inside a sealed bag and discover a new color. Students predict, observe…
Mystery sound shakers: a 20-minute kindergarten science activity about sound
What it is: a science of sound activity where kindergarten students shake closed containers, listen carefully and guess what is inside: rice, water, a…
Light test: transparent, translucent and opaque for 1st grade science
What it is: a 1st grade science investigation where students shine a flashlight through different materials and sort them by how much light passes…
Be a bee: a 30-minute 2nd grade pollination activity
What it is: a 2nd grade science activity where students play bees that carry "pollen" (colored chalk dust or powder) from paper flower to paper flower…
Life cycle wheel: a 35-minute 3rd grade life science activity
What it is: a 3rd grade life science activity where students make a spinning paper wheel that shows the life cycle of an animal, such as a frog or a…
Marble ramp energy: a 40-minute 4th grade physics activity
What it is: a 4th grade physics activity where students roll a marble down a ramp into a paper cup and measure how far the cup moves. Raising the ramp…
Earth's rotation with a globe and flashlight: a 5th grade space science model
What it is: a 5th grade earth and space activity where students model day and night with a flashlight and a globe, tracking a sticker on their city…
Feel your heartbeat: a 15-minute 1st grade health and movement activity
What it is: a 1st grade health activity where students feel their heartbeat while sitting, move for 30 seconds, and feel it again. Students learn that…
Postcard from a habitat: a 2nd grade informational writing activity
What it is: a 2nd grade informational writing activity where students imagine visiting a habitat (desert, ocean, rainforest, arctic, grassland) and write…
Animal report in four boxes: a 3rd grade informative writing activity
What it is: a 3rd grade informative writing activity where students research one animal and sort facts into four boxes (habitat, food, body, an amazing…
Bubble wand test: a 20-minute preschool science experiment
What it is: a simple preschool science experiment. Students blow bubbles with wands bent into a circle, a square, a triangle and a heart, guess what…
Living and nonliving sort: a 20-minute kindergarten science walk
What it is: a kindergarten science walk where students find things outside, decide whether each one is living or nonliving, and sort pictures into two…
Moon watch journal: a 1st grade space science activity
What it is: a 1st grade space science activity where students observe the Moon at home for two weeks, draw its shape each night in a journal, and then…
States of matter sort and act: a 25-minute 2nd grade science game
What it is: a 2nd grade science game where students sort pictures of everyday things into solid, liquid and gas, then act out how the particles move in…
Build a rain gauge: a 3rd grade weather science activity
What it is: a 3rd grade weather activity where students make a simple rain gauge from a clear plastic bottle, set it outside and record rainfall for two…
Fossil prints in clay: a 30-minute 4th grade earth science activity
What it is: a 4th grade earth science activity where students press shells, leaves and bones into clay to make trace fossils, swap them with classmates…
Do plants need light? A 5th grade plant growth experiment
What it is: a 5th grade life science experiment where groups grow bean seedlings in two conditions, one in light and one in a dark box, and measure height…
Paper helicopter experiment: a 40-minute variables lab, grades 3–5
What it is: a paper helicopter experiment where students build simple paper spinners, drop them from the same height and change one thing at a time, such…
Pumpkin investigation: a 40-minute sink or float science activity, K–2
What it is: students investigate one whole pumpkin like scientists: they predict whether it will sink or float, measure around it with yarn, weigh it…
Bat and spider facts: a fact-or-myth science game for grades 3–5
What it is: students hear a statement about bats or spiders, decide if it is a fact or a myth, and move to that side of the room before the answer is…
Walking water experiment: a 30-minute capillary action lab for K–2
What it is: a walking water experiment where students watch colored water climb up paper towels and travel into empty cups, mixing new colors along the…
Balloon rocket experiment: a 40-minute forces activity, grades 3–5
What it is: a balloon rocket experiment where teams zip a balloon along a string across the room, measure how far it travels, then change one thing and…
Food web activity with yarn: a 25-minute ecosystem game, grades 3–5
What it is: a food web activity where students stand in a circle as plants, animals and decomposers, pass a ball of yarn from each living thing to what…
Fall leaf chromatography: a two-part pigment lab for grades 6–8
What it is: a leaf chromatography lab where middle school students separate the pigments in green leaves using rubbing alcohol and coffee filter strips.…
Parade float STEM challenge: a 45-minute engineering activity, 6–8
What it is: a parade float STEM challenge where teams build a small rolling float from classroom recyclables. It has to roll down a ramp, carry a load…
Gingerbread house STEM challenge: a 45-minute build, grades 3–5
What it is: a gingerbread house STEM challenge with no food required. Teams build a "gingerbread" house from index cards and tape that must stand on its…
Candy cane science experiment: a 30-minute dissolving test for K–2
What it is: a candy cane science experiment where students predict which cup of water will dissolve a candy cane fastest: cold, room-temperature or warm…
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